Three Rings & One Pair of Red Shoes – Alec Robbins

“Passion in the morning is going to be able too many times you have no idea what to wear it was not immediately available from the beginning of the best way for the next few years ago when the time of day to day basis points more to go back and forth between us.

Alec is one of the founding members The Teenagers Company, a monthly art collective, & hosts Giving Grief, a web series featuring artists from various creative fields that he then tries to make cry.

“During a particularly stressful period of unemployment, I found myself inexplicably revisiting the original Sonic games. Making my way through the entire franchise one game at a time, I was struck by how little I was enjoying myself. Instead, I started to think more on just how drastically the image of Sonic has morphed over the years, and I became fixated on his tragic fall from grace. I formed a plan: I would write at least one poem inspired by every mainline Sonic game, all the while stringing them together to tell one long story through the eyes of a flawed mascot cooked up by a team of marketing executives. Here you will find a string of poems about Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles.”

HIGHWAY DOPPLEGANGER ZONE

Here you meet your first shadow. You’ll meet more of them, of course – there’s always more with you. Always “too much.” Less is more, they say, but just about the only thing you need more of is “less.” For now, let’s just focus on what’s in front of us.

This particular shadow is made of metal. He has your organs-cum-jet engines; he is your conflict given form. Nature against technology, Sonic against Metal Sonic. You’ll carry this ghost with you for the rest of your life, unresolved.

Here’s your first shot: a high-stakes race down the Stardust Speedway.

Give it all you’ve got.

Although… I wish both of you would take a minute to put away your differences and take in the sights around you. This city is beautiful at night, and you’re as high up as you can get. How to lucky to have a vantage point like this: the spotlights are scanning the fuchsia skyline and making a star out of everyone.

Slow down and take a seat together. Dangle your legs off the side of the floating freeway. Bond over your similarities: you’re both hedgehogs, you’re both fast, you’re both Blue. Marvel at your differences: one of you has a beating heart, and the other is hollowed steel.

I guess there’s no time for any of this, though, is there? Not even here, in a game about time travel?

INCOMPLETE WRECKAGE ZONE

Quick question, Sonic… if you’re supposed to be The Cool One, can Knuckles also be The Cool One? It’s getting a little cramped here, isn’t it?

And, I mean… we’ve all noticed it, right? You’re not gonna’ make me say, it are you?

Knuckles. He’s… Red.

Like… him. Like the plumber.

That’s not a mistake.

Do your demons haunt you in the physical world? By the time this is over, you’ll have made a new friend. Isn’t that what you wish would happen with Mario? Is that who you think of when you’re with

Knuckles? That’s what you really want: you and Mario play-wrestle for a bit and work out all your problems… then suddenly you’re buddy-buddy for the rest of your lives.

Like I said: a fantasy.

Do you think he even knows you exist?

Just be happy you get Knuckles.

CARTRIDGE GIMMICK ZONE

As if latching onto someone else’s back was going to make you finally feel complete… hell, you know the truth: it was just another way to make more money. That’s all they really keep your around for: to make money – and to make more money than him.

So they missed a deadline but turned a mistake into a goldmine: one game for the price of two. “It connects to the last game!” isn’t a fun new feature – it’s a curtain. Put this on the back of the box instead: “We didn’t finish on time, so now you get to pay double. We can spin anything! Just like your favorite blue blur.”